7 years since Pulse nightclub mass shooting

On June 12, 2016 at 2:02 a.m., tragedy struck Pulse nightclub in Orlando, taking 49 innocent lives in what was, at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in United States history. It remains the deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people in the U.S.

That same year, just weeks after the shooting, the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade took place under heavy security. The parade included a moving tribute to the lives lost. Chicagoans carried posters of each victim. It was a colorful, touching tribune.

"That was a commemoration and tribute, and the right thing to do," parade organizer Richard Pfeiffer told GoPride.com in 2016. 

Orlando was represented, and honored, throughout the 2016 parade – with signs, banners, posters, t-shirts and more.

Today, we pause to remember the lives lost, the lives changed — the friends and the family who woke up in the middle of the night to the awful news that their loved one would not come home. 

They were loved by so many. 

Stanley Almodovar III, 23

Amanda L. Alvear, 25

Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26

Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33

Antonio Davon Brown, 29

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29

Angel Candelario-Padro, 28

Juan Chavez Martinez, 25

Luis Daniel Conde, 39

Cory James Connell, 21

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32

Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31   

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26

Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, 22

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22

Paul Terrell Henry, 41

Frank Hernandez, 27

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30

Javier Jorge Reyes, 40

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30

Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21

Brenda Marquez McCool, 49

Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, 25

Kimberly Jean Morris, 37

Akyra Monet Murray, 18

Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, 20

Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, 25

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25

Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24

Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33

Martin Benitez Torres, 33

Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24

Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37

Luis Sergio Vielma, 22

Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, 50

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31